My group seeks to discover new medicines for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism based on discoveries in genetics. These two disorders frequently occur together and cause numerous problems for patients and their families. We need new medicines for these disorders because the ones we use now are only partially effective or cannot be used widely because they cause other problems. Importantly, no medicines can currently cure or prevent these disorders. The Faraone Lab searches for genes that cause ADHD and autism and figures out how these genes differ from genes in other children. We then study how these genes work together with networks of other genes in brain cells. By learning how defects in risk genes for ADHD and autism disturb the functioning of these networks, we find new targets for medicines.

Dr. Glatt is Director of the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab). The mission of the PsychGENe Lab is to develop and apply methods for finding the causes of mental health and mental illness. The vision of the lab is that we will discover those causes and use that information to design interventions that treat or prevent these disorders, or foster resilience to them. We are running numerous research projects aimed at finding the genes and environmental risk factors for a wide variety of disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and substance abuse disorders, among others. Our pipeline seeks to identify “risk genes” for these disorders by studying affected individuals and families and then to reveal how such genes alter brain biology leading to a vulnerability to mental illness.

Research Interests: The signal transduction events that regulate the functional organization of neurons in the brain, and the phenotypes caused by defects in the genes that encode these signaling molecules.

My lab studies brain development and brain function in individuals with genetic disorders. The main focus of our work is on a genetic disorder called 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11DS). Individuals with 22q11DS are at a 25-fold greater risk for developing schizophrenia than individuals in the general population. We examine the effects of genetic mutation, brain development, and neuropsychological function in youth with this disorder, in order to identify the factors that place youth at highest risk for developing schizophrenia. Eventually, our research may allow us to identify and provide early interventions to youth at high risk for schizophrenia, potentially easing the huge toll that schizophrenia takes on families. Another focus of our work is to determine the effectiveness of computer-based, on-line, cognitive interventions in youth with genetically based intellectual disorders. Our hope is that by demonstrating the effectiveness of on-line, cognitive interventions, we can reach and benefit many youth who may not have access to centers that are providing such interventions in person.

Research Interests: Micro-mechanics of implant interfaces; damage evolution of joint replacements and biomaterials; in vivo models of tumor osteolysis and prediction of fracture risk; general orthopedic biomechanics.

At the newly established Molecular Cellular Neuropsychiatry Laboratory at Upstate, directed by Dr. Yao, the mission is to find out how psychiatric diseases damage brain cells and their proper wiring, and how these impairments cause mental illnesses. Our hypothesis is that impaired assembly, function, and plasticity of synapses (small junctions that permit nerve cells to pass an electrical or chemical signal from one to another) and neural circuits underlie cognitive, memory, and emotional deficits of essentially all neuropsychiatric diseases. We are investigating this hypothesis using a number of state-of-the-art molecular, cellular, and electrophysiological technologies on genetically engineered mouse models and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) derived from human patients. Our major interests are addiction, schizophrenia, autism, and primarily prefrontal cortex related brain and mental diseases. Our previous work done at Harvard Medical School has identified new brain signaling pathways that regulate synapse formation and stabilization and neural circuit rewiring that provide fundamental breakthroughs about the pathogenesis of these diseases. At SUNY Upstate we will continue our cutting-edge research, and the knowledge obtained will be an prerequisite for development of more effective treatment strategies for these diseases.

Research demonstrates a highly predictive relationship between alcohol exposure of an unborn child during pregnancy and the chance of later alcohol abuse during the already “at risk” age of adolescence. Also, the younger these children first experience alcohol the greater the likelihood of continued abuse. Yet, the processes underlying this increasing pattern of alcohol use and abuse are poorly understood. The senses of smell, taste, and oral irritation, which combine to give us our perception of flavor, can be modified by experience throughout life, including during development in the womb. Why is this important? Because we learn through experience by way of flavor cues in amniotic fluid and even a mother’s breast-milk what foods the mother ate and prefers and, in turn, what is presumably good to eat. Unfortunately, this normally beneficial process is also at play when a mother drinks alcohol, and the flavor qualities of the drug are known to be important determinants of preference and intake behavior. Work in our lab focuses on understanding the processes by which exposure of the unborn child during pregnancy induces changes in the systems involved in the preference for alcohol odor and the acceptability of alcohol’s flavor. This, in turn, contributes to the risk of initial alcohol use and continued adolescent abuse. Further, we wish to understand how adolescent experience with the drug increases the fetal effect and causes the alcohol-induced changes to continue into adulthood.